CSCI 463 System Architecture
Spring 2014 Schedule - Tentative & Subject to Change
Date	Topic	Date	Topic	Date	Topic
Jan. 13 Week 1	Introduction & Data	Jan. 15 Week 1	Algorithms & Organization	Jan. 17 week 1	Characters & Numbers
Jan. 20 Week 2	Martin Luther King Holiday	Jan. 22 Week 2	Integers & Digital Math	Jan. 24 Week 2	Signed Integers & Floats
Jan. 27 Week 3	Floats Snow Day	Jan. 29 Week 3	Floats	Jan. 31 Week 3	Floats
Feb. 03 Week 3	History of Computers	Feb. 05 Week 3	History of Computers Electronics	Feb. 07 Week 4	Transistors & Gates
Feb. 10 Week 4	Boolean & Logic Circuis	Feb. 12 Week 5	Test 1	Feb. 14 Week 5	Memory
Feb. 17 Week 6	Fetch-Execute & Pipelining	Feb. 19 Week 6	Pipelining & CPU Design	Feb. 21 Week 7	Cisc & RISC
Feb. 26 Week 7	Instruction Sets	Feb. 26 Week 7	Instruction Sets	Mar. 28 Week 7	Instruction Sets
Mar. 03 Week 8	Cache	Mar. 05 Week 8	Test 2	Mar. 07 Week 8	Cache
Mar.10 Week 9	Spring Break
Mar. 17 Week 10	Cache	Mar. 19 Wk 10	I/O	Mar. 21 Wk 10	Storage I/O
Mar. 24 Wk. 11	Storage I/O	Mar. 26 Wk. 11	Storage I/O	Mar. 28 Wk. 11	Storage & RAID
Apr. 31 Wk. 12	Storage & RAID	Apr. 02 Wk. 12	Buses	Apr. 04 Wk. 12	Networking
Apr. 07 Wk. 13	Networking	Apr. 09 Wk. 13	Networking	Apr. 11 Wk. 13	Test 3
Apr. 14 Wk. 14	Networking	Apr. 16 Wk. 14	Memory Extensions	Apr. 18 Wk. 14	Internet
Apr. 21 Wk. 14	Internet	Apr. 23 Wk. 14	Internet	Apr. 25 Wk. 14	Internet
Apr. 28 Wk. 15	Internet	May. 30 Wk. 15	Internet	May. 02 Wk. 15	Reading Day
May. 05	463 Final - May 05 Monday 10-11:50 AM

COMPUTER SYSTEMS ORGANIZATION
CSCI 463 Section 01
MWF 10-10:50 AM
PM 251
Spring 2014

Course Description

Organization and Architecture of Computer Systems. Basic concepts and examples from microcomputers and networks, peripheral components, data communications, and the organization of operating systems.

Prerequisite:

CSCI 360 or Consent of the Department.

Required Materials

1) Online Course notes by the Department of Computer Science
faculty.cs.niu.edu/~berezin

Recommended Materials

1) "Computer Organization and Architecture, 2nd Ed."
by Linda Null & Julia Lobur
2006, Jones and Bartlet
2) Access to various Online sites such as Wikipedia and arstechnica.com

Final (Semester) Grade

The following is the policy that will determine your semester grade.

Components: Count Grade weight

Assignments 6-8 Weighted 25% Total

Tests 3-4 Weighted 75% Total

Scales:

A 90% - 100%

B 80% - 89%

C 70% - 79%

D 60% - 69%

You must score on boundry or above to get grade. There is no rounding.

For a passing grade (D or better), student must achieve a grade of 60% or better in the test portion and 60% or better in the assignment portion.

Note that testing provides the critical portion of the total score. All assignments are due in class at the time specified for that assignment. Be sure to include the following information on each assignment:

Your Name (Last, First, Middle Initial: Print clearly)
CSCI 463
Your faculty's name / Your TA's name
Assignment Number / Date Due

All assignments will be graded by the teaching assistant of your section. To receive full credit for an assignment, all the requirements specified in the assignment must be satisfied. For example, a program with no documentation or with an execution error will be assigned the grade of ZERO.

If you do not agree with the assigned grade, see your TA first to resolve the matter. Late assignments will be accepted with 25% of the base points deducted for each 24 hours past.

Attendance

You and you alone will be responsible for lectures, announcements, and handouts made in the class. If you were absent, you should NOT expect your instructor or your TA to repeat whatever you missed. No messages (e.g., phone or e-mail) will either substitute your attendance of the class or excuse you for any makeup test or late submission of any assignment.

Getting Assistance

To get assistance from your instructor or TAs, your MUST bring the following materials with you:

1) Your notes of class lectures
2) The assignment, work sheet, and/or a printed copy of your current source program if a programming assignment is involved.

Audio and/or video recording of class is forbidden.

Cheating

Everything that you do in this course must reflect your own work. If you copy all or part of another student's work, it will be considered an act of cheating.

Disciplinary action for cheating may range from receiving a zero for the assignment up to receiving an F for the course. Cheating is reported to the University and the University may take additional disciplinary action.

Discussing concepts behind an assignment is not cheating, comparing solutions is. If you need your work checked, see your instructor or TA.

Additionally, significant portions of the tests are based on the homework. If you don't get it, you will fail the test and the course.

Components:	Count	Grade weight
Assignments	6-8	Weighted 25% Total
Tests	3-4	Weighted 75% Total

COMPUTER SYSTEMS ORGANIZATION CSCI 463 Section 01 MWF 10-10:50 AM PM 251 Spring 2014